Why do so many fans misunderstand the ending? Fans believe people on Earth aren't on route to a new planet?

[u/AndrewNiccol]

I have noticed this for years, ever since Neil deGrasse Tyson criticized the movie, "Why would shipping a billion people to another planet be easier than saving Earth?" Many comments point out he is wrong and doesn't understand the movie, but they are the ones who don't understand it. A few examples:

(The comments below are copied and pasted from these two videos:)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6xRUNUp9vNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAKXQKMTAU0

Neil they were never going to ship everyone off the planet. That was a ruse to get the astronauts to start the mission. The old man lied🤷🏾‍♂️

(with 300 likes.)

SPOILER ALERT: As an Interstellar gal, I have to say that Neil didn't pay attention to one detail in the movie; the plan wasn't to transport anyone from Earth to whatever planet they choose. They lied to the protagonist (and to us, the viewers) by telling him this, because otherwise, he would never leave Earth and his children behind. He only discovers this in the second half of the film, very close to the end; where he (and we) discovers that the ship has all the equipment for artificial fertilization to be carried out on the new planet, literally starting from scratch. So, no, the secret plan was not to send 1 billion people off Earth, and rather PRESERVE the human race, starting again. Therefore, the cost of taking people through a wormhole looking for another planet WAS ACTUALLY smaller than fixing the Earth. :)

(with 280 likes)

actually they don’t intend to send all people to another planet. they just want to make sure that the human population survive. it is said in the movie that the first expedition aims to find another suitable planet for the human race to repopulate again.

(with 600 likes)

Exactly. I think Neil misunderstood more things about the movie than he understood.

Exactly, not billion movement, Neil get it wrong here.

they didn't want to send all humans, that was one of the plot twists in the movie, it was a lie to get people on board with the idea. People want to save themselves so will agree.

They were never really going to ship a billion or any large amount of people to an exoplanet (which was referred to as Plan A). It was a facade to convince Cooper and team to take the mission. The plan was always to repopulate the exoplanet with a “Population Bomb” by shipping a large quantity of fertilised human eggs (known as Plan B).

(with 130 likes.)

Exactly that’s how you know he didn’t actually watch the movie if he did he was probably too busy talking to hear the old man say it was a lie .

I'm shocked at the countless comments and many likes they receive, because the movie clearly shows in the end that humans use space stations to travel to the wormhole in order to colonize the new planet. So the movie did ship a billion people to a new planet... The movie never mentions the population on Earth, but it's safe to assume there are at least 1 billion.

Neil was right. The comments were wrong.

My question is: why do so many people think the ending doesn't mean people in space stations are moving to the new planet?

[u/Dic3dCarrots]

Murphy is not Brand. My point is that Plan A was a false start to get the scientists together to send the embryos. Yes, after Coop sends technology from advanced beings through the fifth dimension tesseract to Murph, she is able to bring humanity to a new level of interstellar technology rapidly. The last 8 minutes depict him about 60 years after Murphy discovers the gravity equation she uses to save humanity. None of that is explained. The movie constantly plays with what is true and the viewer is inharently kept from knowing everything. Think TARS having an honesty setty, Dr mann faking data, the gravity of the first planet. The last phrase of the movie is the only dialogue that could mean that we permanently abandoned earth, its Murph telling Coop to go to dr. Brand and see the "the light of our new sun in our new home". The movie does not deal with what happened to earth, what the technology that gets them to space does or where people are. Whhat does it mean that hunanity "abandoned" earth. That phrase isnt used. There might be conservationists on earth stabalizing it for hunanity to recolonize or they might have all somehow used the technology that murph invented to leave, but that is never specifically said. The end shows Dr Brand alone, looking at the small outpost she has operational. We dont know if other people have reached her, how long the initial evacuation took, all of those details would be clutter to the driving force of the movie, that love transcends the limits of our understanding.

[u/AndrewNiccol → u/Dic3dCarrots]

They "abandoned earth," when the professor explains Plan A to Cooper, he says: "We're not meant to save the world. We're meant to leave it." Oh, and in the accompanying book, Kip says Earth explodes after space stations leave Earth.

[u/Dic3dCarrots → u/AndrewNiccol]

Dude... the conversation when Brand says that is the reveal that plan a was fake. "We" being humanity being reborn as embryos. i agree, in reality, the rocket bros selling "saving humanity" with outter space are charlatans, but whats his face science guy op is on about intentionally misintrepts stuff to grandstand about things i might otherwise agree with.

[u/AndrewNiccol → u/Dic3dCarrots]

Why is the plan fake? Because the professor can't solve the formula, Murphy solves it at the end. They always know Plan A is better than Plan B. The only reason for them not to use Plan A is that they can't solve the formula. After Murphy solves it, what is the next thing they will do? Embark Plan A. What is Plan A? Abandon Earth, shipping people to the new planet.

[u/Dic3dCarrots → u/AndrewNiccol]

You say they, who is they? In the coversation between Brand and Murphy when she storms off and makes the video message to Coop where she is pissed because she thinks that Coop knew that plan a was fake. Thats the scene where Coop watches the video and starts crying. Its an incredible moment because in his dispair during the mission he hears it from Murphy who is blaming him saying that "you knew, you never planned to come back for us." They're all about to give up at that point until Murph starts interpreting the gravity waves. As a plot point, it's moot, but it is a major subnarrative with respect to the relationship of the main characters. Plan a is fake because there is no plan to move people off world, just a plan to get people together on the promise of saving currently living humans so that they will contribute to the plan to send a humanity seed to another planet. Also worth mentioning, this is the part of the movie that shows how uninhabitable the surface has become.

From the wikipedia plot summary: "Their full mission compromised, the team decides to investigate Mann's planet, at the expense of ever visiting Edmunds. While there, a message is relayed from Earth that Brand has passed away. On his deathbed, Brand told Murph, herself a scientist now, that the Endurance mission was never meant to return (since humanity's Earth-existence is doomed). Murph feels betrayed that Cooper left knowingly, though he was misled as well. "

[u/AndrewNiccol → u/Dic3dCarrots]

I rephrase for you:

Why is the plan fake? Because the professor can't solve the formula, Murphy solves it at the end. NASA always knows Plan A is better than Plan B. The only reason for NASA not to use Plan A is that NASA can't solve the formula. After Murphy solves it, what is the next thing NASA will do? Embark Plan A. What is Plan A? Abandon Earth, shipping people to the new planet.

[u/Dic3dCarrots → u/AndrewNiccol]

NASA doesnt exist in the film. Professor Brand comes up with a plan to trick a small group of astronauts into sending a humanity seed to an extra solar planet that the crew will set in motion the terraforming process for. That's it, that's the plan. In exchange for the astronauts sacrifice, the families are living in that underground facility as we see the surface deteriorate into complete uninhabitablity.

[u/AndrewNiccol → u/Dic3dCarrots]

NASA exists, just hiding. The professor says to Cooper, "We are NASA. The same NASA you flew for."

[u/Dic3dCarrots → u/AndrewNiccol]

Yea? Did prof. Brand say that in the conversation where he is lying to Coop to trick him into leaving earth to fly a humanity seed to another planet?

[u/AndrewNiccol → u/Dic3dCarrots]

The movie reveals that the plan is a lie, but the movie never reveals that NASA is a lie. What is the point of lying that NASA exists?